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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/27633452">A Lot of Good Reasons</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account'>orphan_account</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Supernatural</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>AU, Alpha Dean Winchester, Alpha/Beta/Omega Dynamics, Beta Castiel (Supernatural), Bottom Dean Winchester, Dystopian Alpha/Beta/omegaverse, M/M, No mpreg, Non-Traditional Alpha/Beta/Omega Dynamics, Omega Castiel (Supernatural), Omega Jack Kline, Omegas Trained to be submissive, Quote: Family Don't End With Blood (Supernatural), Retired Hunter Dean Winchester, Top Castiel (Supernatural), Top Castiel/Bottom Dean Winchester, dean and cas get engaged, omegas are slaves</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-11-20</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-11-20</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-06 18:01:30</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Explicit</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>17,727</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/27633452</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>For a prompt that went, “Dean and Cas are secretly dating. Dean is an alpha, Cas is an omega that presents to the world as a beta. Dean knows the truth and is happy to keep it a secret as long as Cas wants. To friends and family Dean and Cas are best friends. </p><p>Sam and his mate get it into their heads that Dean is lonely and needs an omega in his life. So one day Dean and Cas go back to Dean’s after a date and find an omega in his house with Sam and his mate there.“</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Castiel/Dean Winchester</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>339</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>A Lot of Good Reasons</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>Warning- when Sam gifts Omega Jack to Dean, Jack is underage. However, there is no Dean/Jack, nor underage sex in the story.  </p><p>Also, those of you who love Sam will definitely be unhappy. He’s a bad guy in this story, but I couldn’t figure out how you could give another person as a gift to someone and not be a bad guy.</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>If he could get away with it, there were a lot of good reasons why an Omega would spend his life disguised as a Beta, the number one reason being that no Alpha could just up and decide that he could freaking legally own a Beta, like he could an Omega. Forced claiming was still legal in forty-seven states and a parent could legally sell their Omega children. Even those Omegas that weren’t owned were not full legal persons, but under guardianship of someone. </p><p>So, hell yeah, Castiel disguised himself as a Beta, the whole nine yards. He took Beta hormone replacement therapy and did the scent covering and everything. Sometimes, he was pretty sure it was more than a disguise and that was something neither of them seemed to have the courage to talk about yet. </p><p>Point was, Cas did a pretty much perfect presentation as a Beta male. No one suspected. As far as Dean knew, he was the only person who knew that Castiel’s anatomy didn’t match his gender presentation. Well, maybe a doctor. Dean wasn’t quite clear where Cas got his Beta hormones.</p><p>Dean had promised that he would never, not ever claim Cas, nor force him to live as an Omega. Dean was all for Cas living like a Beta. Sometimes, he wondered why they didn’t just up stakes from Kansas and find a way to live in California or New Hampshire or something, where Cas could be free to live as an Omega but protected from claiming, where he had something close to full, legal personhood. Dean could fix cars anywhere. Maybe Cas didn’t want to live as an Omega, even if he could be free.</p><p>After finishing up his undergrad degree in Magical Languages at the University of North Dakota in Fargo, Castiel was coming close to being done with his PhD in Enochian at the University of Kansas here in Lawrence and he didn’t want to transfer. Thanks to a HunterCorps endowment, U of K had the best Enochian program around. So, Dean was happy to work at the garage like he did these days and wait until Cas was done, see where Cas might pick up his post-doc work. For now, they shared a two bedroom apartment down the street from the garage and let people assume they were roommates and best friends. </p><p>It was a quiet Thursday night. Cas was set up at his desk across the room with some big dusty piles of books. Terribly old and rare books that he got from God knows where. God knows how he was able to read them. Dean had opened them up a few times and they were filled with squiggles and incomprehensible glyphs. Dean was just proud that his boyfriend was smart enough to figure it out. Not only that, but smart enough to get himself the best assistantships and scholarships available. He wasn’t paying to go to school. They were paying him to go to school. Dean was set up across the room, feet up on the coffee table, with an already demolished bowl of ice cream and something a little more his speed- the season premier of Dr. Sexy. </p><p>Dean was idly contemplating if he should get Cas a pair of cowboy boots when he completed his PhD program. After all, he would be a doctor then. Castiel had huffed a deep sigh, then carefully closed the book he was handling with white cloth gloves, then much less carefully slammed the lid of his laptop. </p><p>“I’m done for the night,” he said, rubbing his eyes and forehead. “I was going to go take a shower and go to bed. You’re welcome to join me.”</p><p>The shower was important. The shower was a signal. Cas would wash off the heavy load of scent blockers and Beta scent and go to bed with only his natural, bare odor. It was an invitation to sex, if Dean wanted it. They’d tried sex while Cas was wearing the Beta scent, but it just didn’t work. Or rather, Dean’s cock didn’t work, confused by the Beta scent and that had been just plain embarrassing. He hated that Beta scent turned him off, because he loved the hell out of that man, loved him just the way he was, and he didn’t want Cas to think for one minute that anything would change that. Dean remained perpetually grateful that Castiel was willing to put himself into such a vulnerable position for Dean. In the same place, Dean would have worn that Beta scent like it was armor and never, ever taken it off. </p><p>“Oh, yeah, you think I stink or something?”</p><p>“Something. Let’s go,” Cas said, his deep blue eyes lighting up, giving Dean a toothy grin that he saved only for Dean. </p><p>Then Dean’s phone rang. Sam. His father’s golden child. The one who could do no wrong.</p><p>“Sorry, I should get this. I’ll ditch him in a few.”</p><p>He’d learned that he needed to take Sam’s calls and spend at least a few minutes a week talking to his baby brother. A few minutes a week meant he could mostly avoid the hour long lectures from his father. Dean did a hard gray-rock, giving Sam a bland, basic bit of small talk about nothing in particular, that let them know he was alive and still fine, but didn’t give them even the slightest leverage on him. He was in communication with his family of origin, but didn’t let them see anything close to the truth of his life. To go full no-contact with his family hadn’t worked. He’d tried just not answering his phone when they called, but that had gotten him a four man, HunterCorps tactical team tracing him home and infiltrating his apartment, because supposedly Dean could have been in danger, the lack of phone contact meaning he’d disappeared. His family had made enemies when John had founded HunterCorps, supernatural and human alike. </p><p>“Hey Sammy,” Dean said, trying for cheerful and not quite making it. “Everything is fine. Nothing exciting going on here. I’m watching my show, Cas is studying, so I can’t really talk now.”</p><p>“That’s good to hear, but that isn’t why I called tonight. Dad’s going to be home for the holidays for once. He promises. Adam’s going to be home from college.”</p><p>“Oh, hey, that’s great. I’m sure you’ll be glad to see them. I really should be going.”</p><p>“It’s just that we thought you should join us for Thanksgiving. You know, Kate wanted me to talk to you, to ask you personally. She thought you should come. It’s family, you know. Family is important. It would mean the world to Dad if you just came home. Just for the day.”</p><p>“You know I’m not going to do that,” Dean said, flatly.</p><p>“Kate’s going to make pie.”</p><p>Dean hated pie, especially when Kate shoved it in his face, as if baked good served with a false smile could somehow make up for the treatment he’d had at the hands of his so called family. Then there was that time he was pretty sure she’d poisoned him by pie. He’d been fifteen, a lanky, awkward killer in training. She’d made an apple pie just for him. Being a growing Alpha of fifteen and always hungry, he’d eaten the whole thing then spent the next day puking his guts out. He could never prove a thing though. Couldn’t ever have pie after that though.</p><p>“That’s not really an enticement,” Dean said, feeling a little queasy as he remembered.</p><p>“It’s Thanksgiving. We’re your family. You need to be there with us. You’re still in Lawrence. It’s just a couple off miles and a couple of hours of your day. Kate even said you could bring your friend Cas.”</p><p>Oh, hell no, he was not exposing Cas to his family any more than had already been done.</p><p>“Not happening.”</p><p>“But why not?”</p><p>“You know why not. Just tell Dad and Kate that I have other plans and I’m not going to be able to make it.”</p><p>It was true. He did have other plans, with Cas. They were going to roast a huge turkey on their own and coast on leftovers for days. Crack open some ice cream and watch the game. His family of origin wouldn’t count such a simple day as plans. Maybe it wouldn’t be anything like the fancy private label whiskey and gourmet feast that John Winchester insisted on these days but it was definitely still plans. </p><p>“But.”</p><p>“Hanging up now,” Dean said.</p><p>“But you can’t spend the holidays alone.”</p><p>Dean touched the red button on the screen, then muted the phone and said, “Definitely hanging up.”</p><p>Castiel was by his side the instant Dean set his phone down, offering his open arms and a comforting hug. Dean had gotten used to the false Beta scent and over time, it had even gotten pleasant associations, because it was the scent of Cas. It still didn’t make his dick hard, but getting your dick wet wasn’t the only thing that mattered in life, was it?</p><p>“Fuck, I want a damn beer,” Dean complained. The urge was softer now than it used to be but it might always be there. Especially after talking to his family of origin. Thought patterns were hard to break. Actually, it was an improvement to only want beer after one of their little chats. It always used to be whiskey. </p><p>“Dean,” Cas said. </p><p>“No, I don’t want it,” Dean said. “I mean, talking to any of them gets me back into the same old thought patterns I’m working too damn hard to change and that makes me upset. Better?”</p><p>“Better,” Cas said.</p><p>“I’m not going to mess with my recovery, just because Sam called and was an ass again.”</p><p>Dean let himself be held. That alone was something an Alpha wasn’t supposed to do, in the world of his father and Sam. Alphas were the ones who held, when they touched someone at all. More like Alphas held it all in. Dad would rip him a new one if he saw this moment, Dean, vulnerable as he remembered the events that had gotten him to this state of affairs with his brother and father, letting himself be comforted by a Beta. Or at least someone John would have thought was a Beta. That would have been bad enough in John’s eyes. It didn’t even bear thinking about what John would have said or done if he’d known Cas was an Omega. </p><p>But Cas was his rock. Cas had saved him. Cas had gripped him tight and pulled him up from hell. So Dean didn’t care a good goddamn what John Winchester thought. </p><p>“Hey, shower time?” Cas asked after a few moments like this. Not because he was stinting on the comfort, but because the best thing for Dean right at this moment was distraction, so Dean wouldn’t start to spiral and obsess. </p><p>“Heck yeah,” Dean said, reaching for enthusiasm and mostly finding it. Things had gotten better now that he tightly controlled his contact with his family like he did and he no longer was laid low for hours after taking one of their calls. He allowed himself a few minutes of feeling attacked, of remembering how far he had come and how it used to be. Yes, he would spend part of his weekly therapy session tomorrow no doubt processing this call, as short as it had been. But for now, he was able to put that aside and bring his full attention back to the wonderful man holding him and calling him back to the present. </p><p>Dean playfully tugged down the zipper on Castiel’s burgundy hoodie, letting it open and revealing the next layer of shirts, a blue chambray work shirt. Under that, the neck of a green t-shirt was visible. Under that would be probably a undershirt, though maybe a layer of long underwear. Cas always layered up like that. It gave a bit of needed bulk to his slight figure, another part of his passing for Beta, and besides, he was always cold, it seemed, from early fall to late spring. Dean pulled the hoody off his boyfriend and tossed it onto the couch. He grinned and then Cas gently placed his hands on Dean’s face and pulled him down for a kiss. </p><p>He might have been biased, but he thought his boyfriend was the most beautiful man anywhere. Yes, there was the strong chin and jawline, the cheekbones to die for. The wavy, thick dark brown hair that looked amazing no matter how you tousled it. The deep blue eyes that burned with fierce intelligence and a radical kindness but mostly, it was the things that were less definable that made him so beautiful. The fire in him made him beautiful, but it was a fire that was tempered with acceptance and wisdom. </p><p>Dean let himself be thoroughly kissed, even though his stubble was a little uncomfortable. Cas looked like he was on day four of not shaving, part of the effects of the drugs he took to pass as a Beta. They made him a lot more hairy than even a Beta would be, much less an Omega and the hair grew fast. He could get to a more or less full beard in two weeks. </p><p>“You need to shave,” Dean said.</p><p>“I was thinking of growing it out. Down to my knees. Full on hermit style,” Castiel teased as he led Dean down the hallway to their bathroom. </p><p>“It’s your face,” Dean said, setting his own shaving gear out on the counter. He liked to shave a night, so he was at just the right amount of ruggedly handsome five-o’clock shadow in the morning. “So don’t come complaining to me when it itches.”</p><p>About ten minutes later, they were both cleanly shaven and in the shower. Cas was scrubbing himself with the special liquid soap that would bring his scent back to an Omega odor. Dean had learned not to say natural or normal. What was natural anyway? Fake Beta was what Cas smelled like more often than not, so that was his normal. Dean cleaned himself carefully too so he was as fresh as a daisy and the worst of his Alpha musk was hidden under soapy scent. Castiel’s cock rose slowly as they cleaned themselves. </p><p>“Shower sex?” Cas asked.</p><p>“Too complicated,” Dean said. It wasn’t what he wanted or needed tonight though he might have indulged Cas another time. </p><p>“Understood.”</p><p>They got out of the shower, drying each other off and headed into their shared bedroom. The second bedroom had a bed and all of Castiel’s clothes, but was only slept in often enough to refresh the scent, should someone come snooping. They dove into bed together naked and kissing, grabbing for each other as if the other would escape somehow. Stripped of the Beta scent, Cas smelled of sweet, like honey, but also like fresh rain and maybe a little like a thunderstorm. His body was warm from the shower, his hands almost hot on Dean’s body. Cas kissed like an angel, a wild, dangerous angel and soon, Dean’s cock was hard and he couldn’t help rubbing himself against Castiel’s thighs. Not between them. Never between them.</p><p>Cas reached into the bedside table for a condom and a bottle of artificial slick.</p><p>“Turn over,” he ordered, snapping open the cap. Dean obeyed and Cas spread Dean open a little, then drizzled on some of the slick, then started rubbing, teasing, working at opening Dean up. He circled Dean’s rim with a finger, spreading lube, softening it and driving Dean mad at the same time for a long time before his tentative finger pushed inside even just a little bit. Dean’s cock was hard, aching. His Omega was wet, smelled of sweet musky spice, but he laid still and let Castiel take charge of him.</p><p>At first, this had been their compromise, the way that Cas could be sure that Dean wouldn’t push it too far, wouldn’t claim Cas. Wouldn’t impregnate him. Getting Cas pregnant would have been a disaster for them both. Dean claiming Castiel would have been worse. Dean had never fucked Cas, never gotten his cock even near Castiel’s pussy. He didn’t care. Sex was fantastic without that. </p><p>It had started as a safety measure for Cas, but by now, it was what made Dean feel safe, knowing he was in Castiel’s strong, skilled hands, that he would be taken care of and pleasured in equal measure as he provided pleasure. Castiel sought out Dean’s prostate, raked his finger across it, bringing Dean sparking, almost electric sensations that seemed to be wired direct to his cock, making Dean’s body jerk involuntarily. It felt like he was close, like coming was inevitable, but then Cas backed it off, slowed down, then worked in another finger, a slow, aching burn. </p><p>Castiel’s cock was big for an Omega, mostly because of the Beta hormones he took, and it was plenty big enough that it was still tight and a burning stretch for Dean when Cas finally rolled the condom down, slathered more slick on his cock and slowly pushed inside Dean, bit by bit. Cas might have been smaller than average, but Alphas were not exactly the ideal partner to be receptive. </p><p>“Fuck, Cas, that’s amazing,” Dean said as Castiel finally bottomed out and they rested together for, Castiel’s stomach against Dean’s back. Only slowly did Castiel start to move inside Dean, taking a long time to ramp up to full force thrusting, making love to Dean slowly, sweetly but with all the intensity Dean needed. He gripped Dean’s hands in his own and moved inside Dean with careful, deliberate thrusts. At last, Dean couldn’t hold on to it a moment longer. Castiel stole his orgasm from him, demanding it with every movement inside Dean’s body. Dean groaned and his come spilled out of him, onto the towel that Cas had thoughtfully place beneath them. His knot didn’t fully pop, but when he was with Castiel like this, that didn’t matter, not at all. It was like, when they were together, he wasn’t Alpha, Cas wasn’t either Beta or Omega. They were just two humans together in the most intimate way humans could be. </p><p>Cas didn’t take long to follow Dean, his thrusts becoming erratic and then he wrapped his whole body tightly around Dean and spasmed, coming hard with a soft groan and burst of Omega scent, fresh and like a thunderstorm. </p><p>Cas pulled out quickly. He dealt with the condom, wrapping it up in a tissue and tossing it into the beside trash can. Then he dove back into their post-coital snuggle with a vengeance, tucking his head under Dean’s chin and resting his head on Dean’s chest. Dean wished they could do without the condoms but apparently tender Alpha backsides like his got all kinds of irritated when semen got into them. It even caused infections. That ass infection was something he wasn’t willing to repeat again, so Cas wore a condom, always and without complaint. </p><p>They fell asleep together and Dean didn’t even, except maybe a hot minute, think about Sam and Dad and how much he wanted a drink and wasn’t going to have one. </p><p>***</p><p>Dean woke in the middle of the night, unable to get to sleep again, his mind churning, that little buzz of nascent but not fully blown anxiety centered in his chest. Once, he could have turned to the bottle to quiet it down, put his anxiety on mute. Now, he didn’t even have that. Not like he was going to wake Cas to fuck it out of him. But he breathed deeply and was grateful for how far he’d come and the anxiety stayed as just the little buzz, didn’t swarm over him. </p><p>He laid in the dark and he thought about his last hunt, leading a tactical team into what Ops had told them was the solitary nest of a wendigo, but had turned out to be a huge vamp nest. They were under armed, unprepared. The vamps had got the drop on them. The nest had been wiped out but Dean had walked into it with three good men, experienced hunters and he’d crawled out of it alone and half dead, afraid he’d been tainted with vamp blood. </p><p>Something had happened in the world when Dean was a young kid and since then, there were vamps and demons and other spookies everywhere. People were willing to pay big money to be kept safe from them. HunterCorps had started with just two hunters- John and his young teenage son, Dean. By that last hunt, HunterCorps was on the verge of a huge IPO. There were hundreds of tactical teams working under HunterCorps and the other Winchester son had been brought on, not at the ground level, but heading up a newly formed Ops and Logistics team that never left the corporate tower on the outskirts of Lawrence. Dean was left at the ground level, just another grunt in a tac unit. A foot soldier, nothing more.</p><p>The thing was, the press lionized HunterCorps and the couple of other big hunting companies that had been springing up, glamorized the high tech equipment and lore gathering that they did. John Winchester was presented as a hero to people scared deep down in their bones that some monster was going to come in the middle of the night and carry them or their loved ones away. Sammy, pictured too, the brave son, following in his father’s footsteps, heir to the family business. Dean had never once been in one of those kind of magazine articles. He didn’t care about that. </p><p>The fact was, HunterCorps wasn’t successful because of John Winchester or their fancy ops and logistics department, but because they could muster enough tac teams to clear out the monsters by sheer, brute force and numbers. Half the time, the intelligence handed down was crap. The lore wasn’t always effective and Dean had relied a lot more on a machete and a sawn off shot gun than on any of the spells or sigils he was given. Seemed like half the time, if the mission equipment was supposed to call for a bamboo sword blessed by a Shinto priest, it actually had nothing but a blunt pine garden stake.</p><p>Dean had relied on his own equipment, handgun, big ass knife and maybe a machete. Cutting the head off worked for almost any low level monster. If it bled, it could die. That was something you could count on. Monsters got killed at the ground level, by grunts like Dean and mostly, it wasn’t easy or pretty. HunterCorps ground through tactical units like just more grist for the mill. There were always more young, dumb, unemployable guys, willing to risk it all for a desperately needed paycheck. The butcher’s bill was high for every operation and everyone just looked away because the tac teams were needed. </p><p>Lying in the hospital afterwards, he’d realized that he’d been on about eight different teams that year alone. Sammy hadn’t been the one to come up with the mission plan. He had underlings for that, but when he handed off the mission to Dean, he claimed he and Dad both had vetted it carefully. Dean realized what he’d been suspecting for a while, that HunterCorps was just sending their hunters to their deaths for profit and without more than a pretense that they were providing valuable back up and intel. Dean thought he’d been doing what he did because he was saving people. He wasn’t. He’d been there to make money for the company. </p><p>He hadn’t gone back to work when he got out. He’d been hitting the sauce pretty hard before, all the guys in Tac did, but when he was released, he dove right into a bottle, holed up in a motel and gone on the bender to end all benders. HunterCorps had cut him loose without even trying to get him help. John and Sam said it wasn’t personal, he was still family, of course, but he’d become a liability to the business so they had to let him go. </p><p>Funny thing, while HunterCorps had already made John and Sammy rich by that point, none of it somehow had really gotten into Dean’s pockets. He’d never even been paid. They paid all his expenses and he’d always been promised a share of the business that never materialized. He’d had no savings when he’d been fired. He’d always given his all to his Dad and to the hunt. He’d always assumed that when the chips were down, they’d take care of him. In a few months, he was teamless, jobless and homeless with a massive case of PTSD, and told it was all his own fault.</p><p>Castiel woke and pulled Dean into his arms and asked, “Bad night? I can practically hear you thinking.”</p><p>“I wish I could just cut them off completely.”</p><p>“I wish you could too.”</p><p>***</p><p>The thing was, it was never just about them wanting to hear from him. It was always something. There was always an angle, always something they wanted from him. As if he hadn’t given far too much already. </p><p>He found out what that angle was this time over breakfast, thumbing through one of the political news magazines that Cas subscribed to. It was a sidebar to an article titled, “The Forgotten Soldiers of the Monster Wars”. There in a red headline, it asked, “What happened to the other Winchester Son?”</p><p>They’d dug up picture of him in tac gear still, obviously just after he crawled out of that vamp nest, bloodied and about half dead. It was one that had appeared the newspaper of the small town nearest the vamp den. The rest of the press coverage of that debacle had been tightly managed by HunterCorps, but before they’d gotten a tight lid on it, there was that one article with the picture that they had not vetted. It wasn’t like Dean hadn’t seen the picture before. It popped up every now and then in articles like this, but he didn’t want to look at it either. </p><p>“No wonder Dad and Sammy want me to come home and play happy families,” Dean said, pushing the open magazine across the table to Cas who was scowling over a page of Enochian and black coffee. “Some journalist digging up dirt that makes them look bad again.”</p><p>Castiel scanned the sidebar and said, “I’m not sure it counts as digging up dirt if it’s the truth. Maybe you should talk to one of these reporters sometime. Tell them your side. Your story might help someone.”</p><p>Dean wasn’t sure of that. Not when every day still brought its challenges. It wasn’t like he was healed, just patched together enough to cope. He didn’t talk to reporters. It was his private trauma and his alone to work through. “Well, gotta get to work. Bobby’s got a transmission waiting for me.”</p><p>“Of course. We promised Charlie and Stevie that we’d karaoke tonight. Are you still up for that?”</p><p>He thought about it. Not that any of them could sing worth a damn, but there wasn’t a lot to do in Lawrence. But the only karaoke place was in a bar. Sometimes, he just couldn’t muster up the cope to hang out in a bar, the temptation to have just one drink was so great he didn’t think he could resist. He thought about having Cas beg off for them. Just for a hot minute. Then he decided that he wasn’t going to let these intrusions into his life throw him off kilter. This was his life now, not the life back then, not the life that he owed to someone for having been born a Winchester. He wanted to listen to his friends sing warbley, uncertainly voiced pop songs and maybe throw popcorn if someone was really, really bad. </p><p>“Yeah, still up for that,” Dean promised. </p><p>***</p><p>At the garage, the transmission wasn’t going well. it was one of those days were everything was just a bit off. You reach for your 10mm socket wrench and your hand comes back with a ratchet extender in it. You bash your hand on some rough spot in and come away with a raw knuckle scrape. He cursed as yet again, he grabbed the wrong tool, then threw it at the floor in disgust. </p><p>“You okay, son?” Bobby asked from the other bay. He was elbow deep in someone’s ancient rust bucket Chevette, one that should have been mercy killed, a quick, painless death in the compactor. </p><p>“Not really, but I’ll get by,” Dean said, wrestling with a particularly stubborn bolt, once he’d found the right socket. </p><p>“Weekly call with your brother? Never fails. It’s Friday, so you’re in a mood.”</p><p>“They want me to come for Thanksgiving. Somebody printed another one of those ‘what happened to Dean Winchester’ articles, so they think I owe it to them to come play happy family with them and make them look good.”</p><p>“Well, you ain’t their punching bag and you don’t owe them that,” Bobby said. “Seems like you oughta stay at home. Or you and your man could come to mine. Jody and Donna are coming with the girls.”</p><p>Bobby was the one person who knew Dean and Cas were together. Of course, he still had no clue that Cas was Omega. He thought Dean was gay. Dean didn’t care he thought that, because Bobby seemed indifferent to it mostly. Dean was family, as far as Bobby was concerned, even if they weren’t blood, and family stood by family no matter what. </p><p>“Cas and me have plans,” Dean said. </p><p>“Good enough, but there’s always room at the table for you two.”</p><p>Then they got back to work. You could always count on Bobby to be gruffly caring and no nonsense about it. There was a lot of stuff that was unsaid between them, that didn’t need to be said, because Bobby understood. He was another veteran of the monster wars. </p><p>***</p><p>Karaoke had been a resounding success, even though the only time he dared to get up on stage didn’t go so well. He croaked his way through the ‘too sexy for my shirt,’ song, but his friends and Cas had thrown popcorn at him and there was a lot of laughter, so it was good. They’d left the bar ebullient, Dean even laughing, despite the rough start to his day. In the dark of the parking lot, Dean had dared to grab Castiel’s hand to hold for the walk back to their car- Castiel’s car, actually, a jalopy of a Lincoln Continental, big enough for him to stretch out comfortably in the passenger seat for the ride home. He took the middle seat of the big bench seat so he could lean against Cas, arm around Castiel’s shoulder.</p><p>Dean would be lying if he said he wasn’t thinking about a shower to end their night, maybe some shower sex of the easier kind- just frotting against each other, maybe a hand to help out. Simple was good. </p><p>Something wasn’t right when they got back to their apartment though. The living room light was on, visible in the window front he street below. Cas didn’t normally leave it on during the day. Dean was instantly on high alert. You could take a man out of the hunt, but it took more than a few years to take the hunt out of a man. He was always ready in case the hunt came to him.</p><p>Dean reached under his jacket where his trusty Colt 1911 lived in the concealed holster in the small of his back and with silent gestures, signaled to Cas to follow him as they crept up the back steps to their apartment. He silently unlocked his back door and let them into the kitchen, Cas following close behind. Someone was in the dark kitchen, rummaging in one of the cabinets. Dean’s senses were buzzing on high, his Alpha rage beginning to bubble through to the surface. Someone dared to invade his kitchen, dig through his cabinets. Threaten his Omega’s safety. </p><p>The someone was tall, broad, with a douchey man bun and a stupid scarf around his neck. Classic mistake. Never, ever give someone something to grab you around the neck with. He got the drop on the dude in an instant, had him on the ground, half strangling him with the scarf, Colt pressed to the back of his head, buried right into his stupidly long hair. Back when Dean had run tac teams, his guys got short haircuts, whether they liked it or not. Long hair got you dead.</p><p>“How ‘bout you tell me what the hell you’re doing in my kitchen?” Dean demanded angrily. </p><p>“Put the gun away. I was just looking for something to drink,” the intruder said. </p><p>That voice, so familiar. He gripped tighter on the scarf and then flipped his captive over, exposing the familiar dimples, the cleft chin, those hazel eyes scrutinizing him always, looking at him with something that never didn’t contain at least a little contempt. Sammy was the smart one. The favorite child. The one that got his private schooling paid for, from grade school to MBA, while Dean was pulled out of high school to do grunt work like cleaning out ghoul infestations and werewolf control. Dean was the dumb one, not worth paying to school, so he’d been told again and again.</p><p>“Sammy?” Dean asked as Cas had moved to flick on the lights.</p><p>“Hey, Dean,” Sammy said, breezily, as if this were a chance meeting at the supermarket or some kind of social call and Dean didn’t still have him by the neck with a gun to his head. “You know, I didn’t expect private label, but I would have thought you would have something decent, like Johnny Walker Blue. But as far as I can tell, you don’t have anything to drink.”</p><p>“Neither Cas or me drink,” Dean said, flatly. He was not going to go into it in any more detail. Sam didn’t deserve to know.</p><p>“Are you going to let me up?”</p><p>Dean just pulled the scarf tighter and asked again, “You going to tell me what you’re doing here?”</p><p>“This is not a very civilized way to treat a brother who has just done a very large favor for you.”</p><p>“Not feeling particularly civil. Just wondering why you had to spoil a perfectly good Friday night,” Dean said. He let the scarf go and Sam dropped to the worn linoleum before scrambling to his feet. Dean did not put his gun away, kept it leveled at Sammy, who was still an intruder as far as he was concerned. “If you broke my lock, you’re paying to get it fixed.”</p><p>Sam scoffed. “I know you think I’m useless, but I do have the skills to pick a lock. Your door is fine. Maybe you could put that thing away. I’m not a threat. I know that’s how you see the whole world, but I’m family.”</p><p>Dean put the safety back on and tucked the gun back into its holster, only because it was true, that Sammy was not a threat. He could totally take Sam down without it. Sam was soft and he was useless in a conflict, no matter what he said.  “You still haven’t explained what you’re doing here and why you didn’t call ahead.”</p><p>“Because calling you is useless. You never let me get a word in edgewise before you hang up.”</p><p>Well, that was true and kind of the point. </p><p>“As for why I’m here,” Sam said, then grinned, his cheeks popping into dimples. “Jess, could you come in here and bring the present.”</p><p>Sam’s fiancée walked in. She was a beautiful blond woman with wavy hair and a tan. She could have done way, way better than his brother, though the money probably helped a lot. She was perfectly groomed, with her hair done in those loose, casual waves that Dean knew took women a lot of work to get just perfect. Sam bought her designer clothes and she moved through the world with the easy confidence of the rich and pretty. She smiled a lot but never said very much, as if she knew the kind of role Sam wanted her to play in exchange for access to Winchester family money.</p><p>Trailing behind her was a teenage kid, a slight boy, dressed in the stark white shift people dressed Omegas in before they were mated. Something sweet and pure scented the air around him and it took a moment for Dean to catch on because it wasn’t a common scent. It was the scent of a young, virginal Omega. Most Omegas you ran into on a regular basis were well scented and marked by their Alphas, or rarely, disguised as Betas. Dean saw Castiel’s eyes widen as he took in the scene. The kid looked superficially at least, like Cas. There was that same chin cleft and high cheekbones, but the kid had more delicate features and light brown, almost blond hair. His lips were pale pink, looked tender and soft, but a little full and lush.</p><p>Dean wondered for a moment why the kid was there. </p><p>He also wondered why Jess didn’t seem to be carrying any kind of wrapped present. They’d tried to buy Dean’s forgiveness before, with gifts- a fancy watch, the latest and greatest iPhone, once even, a car, a restored Impala like the one John had had when Dean was still a kid himself. He’d refused them all. Their gifts had always come with tangled, sticky strings, in his experience.</p><p>Then he got it. </p><p>The kid was the present. They’d bought a fucking Omega from somewhere, probably a poor family, and were trying to give him the boy. The kid didn’t look anywhere close to even eighteen, looked closer to fifteen, maybe sixteen at a stretch. It wasn’t legal to sell an Omega that young into a mating but people looked the other way all the time. </p><p>“Tell me you did not buy this child from a desperate family, because I really want to think better of you than that, Sammy, and it’s getting kind of hard to do that, the more I’m seeing.”</p><p>Jessica handed Sam a folder of papers, which Dean realized were the ownership papers for the Omega. Sam said, “We didn’t take him from a family. He was never raised in any kind of family. He’s from one of the best Omega training academies. He was surrendered to the system as an infant. Dad and I got him for you. He’s one of the best Omegas from one of the best Academies and he cost a pretty penny.”</p><p>Fuck. That was even worse. That meant the kid had no idea what it meant to be his own person, had never considered himself as anything but an Omega that was destined to be claimed and owned. He looked at Cas, his heart clenching in his chest, thinking about what Cas must be thinking when seeing his brother act like this, like it was natural and normal to just buy an Omega from an institution then give him away as a present. </p><p>Cas looked at the Omega then back at Dean, a communication that Dean understood clearly. They had to get this Omega away from his brother, because what would happen to him if Dean refused the gift? It wasn’t like they could take the Omega back to the training school. He probably wouldn’t wind up as Sam’s toy, because it was pretty clear that Sam was oriented to Beta women only, but John had been known to dabble in Omegas, mostly escorts and other ‘professionals’. The other option was worse. He’d never known for sure about HunterCorps, but a lot of big companies kept a stable of Omegas just for the purpose of ‘entertaining’ their big clients. They wouldn’t assign this kid to low level clients. They’d paid way too much for him to do that. But prostitution was prostitution. If Dean refused, things would only get worse for this Omega, not better. </p><p>Cas nodded, ever so slightly. Dean trusted Cas with his life. If Cas thought this was the right thing to do, then it was the right thing to do. They’d figure out what to do with the kid later. </p><p>“So, those are his papers?”</p><p>Sam presented the stack with a flourish. “All you have to do is sign on that line there and there, then the Omega is yours.”</p><p>“And this is a gift, no obligations if I accept?”</p><p>“A gift. Jess, Dad and I thought you needed an Omega, living alone like you do. It’s not good for an Alpha to live alone.”</p><p>Well, never mind that he didn’t live alone, but his family had made it quite clear that a Beta roommate did not count and that if they had anything to say about it, Cas would be gone. Dean grabbed the papers and signed, scanning the forms rapidly. The contract specifically said that the Omega was a non-conditional gift, fully Dean’s own to do what he wanted with once the title was signed. It made him feel a little ill to put his name on the title of ownership of another person, but he made himself do it, thinking about what would happen if he didn’t. </p><p>“And this Omega is all mine now?”</p><p>Sam nodded.</p><p>“Then get the hell out of my house and never come back,” Dean said. “I catch you in my place again, I will shoot you like the trespasser you are. You or Dad or any of you so much as call me again and I will start taking out restraining orders. You send one of the company’s tac teams to find me, I will take them out and don’t think that I can’t, because I was the one that developed their training program.”</p><p>“But,” Sam started.</p><p>“But nothing. Get the hell out and get gone. You know what, pick a hemisphere and stay there. Get Dad to transfer you to the European Division or something. I don’t care, just stay out of my way.”</p><p>It took a few more protests and Dean making like he was going to physically remove Sam from the apartment if he didn’t leave on his own, but he and Jess were soon gone. Dean examined the door and found that, despite Sam’s protest to the contrary, the lock was broken. Dean pushed it closed and did up the separate deadbolt that Cas must have forgotten to get earlier in the day. Too bad it was too late to get to the hardware store tonight. He’d feel better with the door fully locked. He turned back into the room and both Cas and the Omega kid were looking at him as if he were a bomb about to explode.</p><p>Then the kid knelt. He dropped gracefully to his knees, legs spread slightly, feet tucked under, and head bent so it was clear that the Omega couldn’t make eye contact. Dean felt sick again at the submissive gesture. The kid had been trained to this his whole life. He didn’t know different. He wouldn’t be like Cas, who had already freed himself from whatever bullshit about Omega behavior had been crammed down his gullet before he ever met Dean. Dean caught Castiel’s eyes, tried to implore him with a look, hope that Cas understood that Dean couldn’t be the one to let the kid know things would be different around here, because then it would be just another order from an Alpha to an Omega. Cas nodded. He understood. Dean was profoundly grateful that Cas always understood.</p><p>Cas put a gentle hand on the kid’s shoulder, then reached for the kid’s hand. When given it, Cas pulled the kid upright. </p><p>“No, Omegas do not kneel to Alphas in our household,” Cas said. </p><p>“I’m sorry, Beta Sir, I don’t understand,” the kid said, looking to Dean nervously. “I should always show respect to an Alpha.”</p><p>“Look, Kiddo, in this house, I’m not an Alpha and Cas ain’t a Beta. We’re just people,” Dean said. “Call me Dean and we’ll be fine.”</p><p>“Dean is correct. Inside our home, we are equals in respect regardless of presentation. I know this is not what you are used to. My name is Castiel. You can call me Cas, like Dean does, if you like. What do they call you?”</p><p>“That’s up to Alpha Dean to decide,” the kid said, seeming on the verge of dropping to his knees again, except Cas slipped an arm around his shoulders and led him out of the living room and into their kitchen. </p><p>“In your school, you would have had a name they called you. Unless you’d like to pick another. I know some Omegas don’t like to be reminded of their time in the Academy.”</p><p>Cas had been called Jimmy. He’d told Dean very little about his time in an Academy, but Dean knew that much. Dean suspected he might be the only one who knew that name. Castiel had named himself after the Angel of Thursdays.</p><p>“Jack, they called me Jack,” the kid said, as Cas led him to the dinette set and sat him down at one of the vinyl and chrome chairs. </p><p>Dean was already digging the fridge, because it was obvious that Cas thought Jack needed to be fed. </p><p>“You must be hungry, Jack. They never feed Omegas enough in the Academy,” Cas said, with a certain inflection. Dean knew that Cas had mostly grown up in a family, but had been abandoned at a point where he was too young to be mated off, so he’d spent a couple of years in the Omega academies before escaping.</p><p>Dean pulled out sandwich stuff from the fridge and Jack tried to stand up. “I should help. An Omega should never let an Alpha work while he is sitting,” Jack said. Cas laid a light hand on his forearm to cue him to stay seated. </p><p>“This is Dean’s kitchen,” Cas said. “He likes to take care of people, so he does all the cooking. When you have settled in, we’ll discuss the split of chores. For now, I would not get in his way.”</p><p>He and Cas had eaten earlier, but Dean could always eat. Dean started with Cas’s sandwich- peanut butter and grape jelly, cut into triangles with the crusts cut off. Not jam. Cas didn’t like jam. He found it unsettling. Maybe it was a texture thing. Dean hoped Jack liked a Dagwood special. He found himself second guessing and wondering if he should have gone for a second pbj. But then Cas said, “Perhaps pb and j for Jack as well. Not one of your Dagwoods.” </p><p>So he did another for Jack, just like he made for Cas. Maybe they’d want to get jam in the future. Not everyone had the same feelings about it as Cas did. After Jack’s was done, Dean really got to work, stacking meat and cheese high, layering on the mustard and mayo. He liked a sandwich to have some real substance to it. </p><p>Then he put everyone’s sandwiches in front of them and dug in. He’d gotten several bites in before he realized that Jack was just looking at the sandwich on his plate, not touching it. Dean looked at Cas who had just realized that as well. Cas said, “You don’t ever need to wait for Dean’s permission to eat. I know what your training says, but that’s not how our household operates.”</p><p>“Is Dean not the head of the household?” Jack asked. “Who is head of the household if not Dean?”</p><p>“He is,” Castiel and Dean both said at the same time. Legally speaking, as the Alpha, it was assumed Dean was head of the household, but honestly, Cas was in charge here. It was stupid, really, that the law thought a thirty something year old, apparently Beta, unrelated adult, needed an Alpha in charge of him, but that was how things worked. If there was an Alpha in a residence, he became head of household by default, unless you filed specific paperwork that said otherwise. Not that the law expected the Alpha to tell the Beta when to eat, but the electric bill was in Dean’s name by default. So was the lease. </p><p>Then Castiel clarified, “Neither of us is, really. It will be different that you are used to. You might be confused at times but I promise that you are safe here. Please, if you are hungry, eat, at any time. We keep the kitchen well stocked. When you are thirsty, please drink.”</p><p>So Jack ate, but it seemed like he was being obedient rather than he was hungry or enjoying his food. That troubled Dean. The whole thing troubled Dean, really. What the hell were they doing. The kid was here because Cas had asked for it and because Dean couldn’t leave him in the ownership of his brother, but they’d just opened a whole big can of worms. Dean was, legally, the owner of this kid now. This kid who no doubt had been schooled his whole life to the idea that someday, he’d have to do anything some Alpha wanted, including stuff that was painful, humiliating, even dangerous. </p><p>Dean’s life with Cas was a happy one and he was afraid they’d completely toppled the balance of it. That kind of stuff Jack was no doubt brainwashed into being wasn’t what Dean wanted out of life. Besides, he had an Omega already. No, didn’t have. He was had by that Omega. Or Beta. He was never quite sure how to think of Cas. Either way, his heart and soul belonged to Cas.</p><p>Dean rushed through his sandwich as he pushed down his thoughts. Looking at his empty plate, Dean still felt a little empty, a little in need of something. He knew he shouldn’t eat his feelings, but damn they tasted good with ice cream sometimes. </p><p>“Ice cream anyone?” He asked, heading for his stash in the freezer. “Cas?”</p><p>“No, thank you,” Cas said. </p><p>“Jack, you want some?” Dean asked. </p><p>Jack scowled, seemed troubled, then said, “I don’t know. I’ve never had ice cream. I will try it if you wish it of me.”</p><p>“You’ve never tried ice cream before? Like never?”</p><p>“The diet at the academies is very austere, Dean,” Cas explained. “It’s unlikely Jack has experienced any kind of dessert or sweet before. Perhaps he might enjoy a very small bowl.”</p><p>So Dean dished out what he thought was a small bowl. Cas shook his head and said, “Less. He might get ill eating so much at once.”</p><p>Dean did what Cas said and put a bunch back in the container, then presented Jack with his little bitty scoop of rocky road and waited. The only other time Dean had seen someone have ice cream for the first time, it was one of Garth’s toddlers. Good man, Garth. Dean wondered if Garth was still hanging in there, if was still working for HunterCorps, if he was even still alive. Anyway, the kid cautiously dipped the spoon into the bowl and levered out a little bit, then stuck it in his mouth and waited. Then delight stole across his features. A big grin broke out on his face and he was quickly scooping it in, tearing through the measly portion that Cas had allowed. Dean couldn’t stop himself from feeling proud that he was the one introducing the kid to one of life’s great pleasures. He could practically feel his heart grow as he watched. Warm fuzzy chick flick moments and all that.</p><p>“I like ice cream!” Jack announced with a huge toothy smile and Dean’s heart sort of melted inside his chest a little more. “It’s wonderful.”</p><p>He opened his mouth again, as if going to ask for something, but he bent his head again, smile gone, as if he were about to cry or something. Cas spoke. “You may ask for anything you like. I can’t promise that you will always get what you want, but you may always ask. We won’t punish you for asking.”</p><p>“I would like some more ice cream, please.”</p><p>“Tomorrow, if it doesn’t disagree with your stomach,” Cas promised. </p><p>“Why not tonight?” Dean asked. Just a little more couldn’t hurt, could it?</p><p>“The Academy diet is basically vegan. Some Omegas have problems digesting milk and meat when they get out. We should proceed cautiously with new foods for now. I would hate to have him feel unwell.”</p><p>Dean pictured a young Cas, probably rail thin from this diet, curled over clutching his stomach because he binged on all things he’d been denied before, but wasn’t able to handle them. This was the voice of kindness speaking with experience, somehow. </p><p>“Please, Alpha?” Jack pleaded. “Just a little more.”</p><p>“I think maybe Cas knows what he’s talking about,” Dean said. “We’d better do what Cas says. And it’s Dean, not Alpha.”</p><p>Jack looked disappointed but did not ask again. Cas bustled around, picking up their dishes and cleaning up the mess Dean made with the sandwiches. Jack watched unhappily, as if he knew he was doing something wrong by just sitting there. Cas hadn’t let him though. </p><p>“Hey, Cas, I was thinking maybe Jack could borrow some of your clothes so we can get him out of the whole handmaiden outfit,” Dean said, feeling uncomfortable that Jack was still wearing the pure white shift dress. Probably without underwear under it, which was traditional and gross. Probably uncomfortable too. And cold. The dress really didn’t leave that much to the imagination, but in a really unsexy kind of way. It left Dean feeling like a creepy uncle to just glance at the kid and to let his eyes linger at all made him feel like a predator. </p><p>“That’s a good idea,” Cas said as he put the last dish into the dishwasher. “We should get him settled for the night.”</p><p>Cas led them down the hallway to the two bedrooms, giving Jack the nickel tour of their small apartment. “The bathroom you’ll use is right there. You don’t need permission from either of us to use anything in it. This one just has a small shower stall, but shower when you feel you need to. Dean and I have our own bathroom.”</p><p>“You’ll be in this room,” Cas said, indicating the spare room. He walked in and pulled a few things out of the closet and handed them to Jack, a white t-shirt, a gray sweat shirt, dark blue hoodie. “We’ll look into getting you your own clothes tomorrow, but these should be comfortable enough for now. You may use anything in the room and let me know if you need any more blankets or pillows. I know Omegas have different nesting needs.”</p><p>“But aren’t I sleeping in Alpha Dean’s room?” Jack asked. “Alpha Winchester was very clear he was getting me for Alpha Dean and that I am to offer myself to Alpha Dean, to be his mate.”</p><p>Dean felt sick to the pit of his stomach again and that made the rage bubble to the surface again. What the hell had Sam been thinking? Getting this kid, this helpless, innocent kid for him. Buying another human being with the idea that Dean would want to. With the kid. Even if you didn’t know that Dean had eyes for no one but Cas, it was just beyond the pale. And to think that on paper, he was the owner of this kid now by law. If he wanted to do that shit, it wasn’t even illegal. The kid wouldn’t have any choice in the matter if Dean wanted that from him. Dean just had the urge to kill something. </p><p>“You explain it to him,” Dean said to Cas. “I’m going to bed.”</p><p>Dean stalked the few feet down the hallway to Castiel’s and his room and started undressing. Normally, he slept with the Colt under his pillow, but something about having the kid in the house made him not just eject the magazine, but lock the whole set up in his closet gun safe. Cas knew gun safety, had his own gun even, though he had a conceal carry permit and Dean pretty much never saw it. But the kid might not know a thing about guns, might get curious. Plus, what if he came in the room and tried to wake Dean up. It just seemed like an accident waiting to happen.</p><p>Cas came in a moment later, carrying some pajamas. He shut the door behind him. </p><p>“What are we doing here, Cas?” Dean asked. “I signed on that title because I trusted you, but we can’t just take this Omega in like he’s a stray puppy. What’s our endgame?”</p><p>“I don’t know. I saw Jack and I knew I couldn’t let him stay with your brother. I know it does no good for us to compare our traumas with each other, but the Omega Academies are inhuman. They don’t rape these Omegas’ bodies, but they do it to their minds, so thoroughly that the Omegas think they’re happy to be getting an Alpha to own them,” Cas said. The anguish in his voice was soft, almost missable, but Dean could read it clear. </p><p>“Yeah, okay, I guess we picked us up a stray and he stays,” Dean said, because nothing else could be the answer. “You take the kid under your wing, he’s under my wing too.”</p><p>“Good. I don’t know what I would do if you weren’t behind me on this.”</p><p>“All the way. Always. Is it clear to him that I’m never going to do that to him? That he’s not here to be my mate or my Omega or whatever.”</p><p>“I don’t know,” Cas said. “I tried to explain it to him. I’m not sure how much he understands. He knows he’s not to come into our bedroom. I think that was the best I could do for tonight.”</p><p>“Well, I’ll follow your lead on this. You coming to bed? I’m exhausted.”</p><p>They were soon in bed together, arms wrapped around each other. Any stray thoughts of sex Dean might have had earlier in the night had vanished, if only because they were both too tired for a shower and Cas had drenched himself pretty heavy in fake Beta for heading out to the karaoke bar. The fake Beta scent smelled completely unsexy, but oddly, comforting, if only because it was Cas and that was how he smelled.</p><p>“We probably need to get a larger place, but I’m not sure how we could afford it,” Cas said. He would know. He handled the bills even though they were in Dean’s name. He ran the budget, made sure everything was paid. Dean just turned his check over to Cas and tried not to run out of his allotted pocket money each month. Cas was far smarter with money than Dean had ever been. If Cas said they couldn’t afford something, then they couldn’t. </p><p>“People will talk if becomes clear that you and I are sharing a bedroom, with Jack in the other.”</p><p>“Let ‘em talk,” Dean said. “You know, I’ve been thinking about this for a while. It kills me to not even be able to tell Charlie and the rest of our friends about you and me. I don’t want to keep us hidden anymore.”</p><p>Cas stiffened in Dean’s arms and Dean realized what Cas thought he was asking. </p><p>“No, I mean, us coming out as a gay couple, not you acting like an Omega,” Dean said. “You are who you are and I don’t care what people think. Maybe we could file formal household papers. If you’ll want, that is.”</p><p>Dean knew that over the years, while acting like a Beta had been protective camouflage for Castiel, it was an expression of his true self. Who he was. That for Cas, presenting as a Beta male was about more than hiding his Omega nature. Dean wouldn’t ask him to give that up, not even if they could miraculously, suddenly live in a place where Omegas were safe, where they had the same rights as an Alpha. They didn’t talk about it much. Should probably talk about it more. </p><p>“I’ll ask Bobby about getting the kid on my insurance tomorrow morning,” Dean said. “Then maybe we could start the Formation papers on Monday too. What do you think? You want to do this thing?”</p><p>That was one small advantage of the household system- the Alpha could put any of the dependents in his household on a family plan insurance, even if they weren’t genetically related. That was how Cas had insurance. But what he was proposing, filing formal papers for the Formation of a Household went beyond that. It would publicly create a family where he had obligations, real, legal ones, to Cas and the kid. They’d register with the state as a family unit. It hadn’t always been allowed for an Alpha male to form a household with a Beta male, but that had changed a few years ago. </p><p>Cas didn’t say anything. Dean knew this was something Cas wanted, had always wanted, but Dean hadn’t been ready for it. It was a big step. Formal notice would have to be served on Dean’s last household of record. John Winchester’s household. Formation of a household with a Beta man was some shit he hadn’t been ready to stir up with John. He didn’t care now. They’d stepped over the line one last time with this shit they’d pulled and he was done with them. John Winchester could say whatever the hell he liked and Dean didn’t have to listen to him anymore. Really, this was something he should have done long ago.</p><p>“It would provide further legal protection for Jack,” Cas said, cautiously. “But I don’t want you to take a step you aren’t ready for.”</p><p>“I’m ready. I think I have been for a while. It’s just us getting a kid like this, it’s a catalyst. You’re family, Cas, and I want to make that official.”</p><p>“Then let’s do this thing,” Cas said. “Sleep now though.”</p><p>***</p><p>Dean was woken out of a sound sleep some time in the early morning hours, but what he thought was a scratching at the bedroom door. It was quiet as he startled upright, automatically digging under the pillow for his Colt. It was there and it took him a moment to remember locking it into the safe. Right. The kid. He didn’t hear anything but soft breathing from Cas and he was about to lie back down when he heard a sob in the hallway, then a barely audible, “Please, Alpha, wake up.”</p><p>Dean sighed and got out of bed, opened the door cautiously. Jack, as expected, was in the hallway. He was sort of kneeling on the floor, but more crouched over his stomach. Obviously, their late meal had given him some kind of tummy ache. Maybe the ice cream, small as the serving had been, wasn’t such a good idea. </p><p>“Hey, Buddy, what’s going on?” Dean asked, stepping out into the hall, shutting the door behind them so they didn’t wake Cas with their talk.</p><p>“Please, Alpha, may I use the toilet?” Jack pleaded. </p><p>The kid had woke him up to ask permission to use the can? Then he remembered the things Cas had told him about the Omega Academies and their pretty much total brainwashing programs. So, yeah, maybe he might think he needed it. Dean thought he remembered Cas giving the kid a blanket permission to use the bathroom whenever he wanted, but maybe the kid was literal minded or didn’t believe that it counted coming from a Beta. </p><p>“You don’t have to ask me,” Dean said. “When Cas said you should use anything in the bathroom whenever you needed, that means the toilet too. Don’t ask. Just use it. Okay?”</p><p>“The door was shut. I didn’t know. I’m sorry, Alpha, I would have waited until morning, but my stomach hurts.”</p><p>“Just do what you have to in the bathroom and you don’t ever need to ask permission,” Dean said. Then, as Jack got to his feet and scurried down the hallway, he added, “And it’s not Alpha. I’m not your Alpha.”</p><p>He tried to slip back into bed noiselessly, but Cas was already awake. He sat up and clicked on the bedside light. “This isn’t going to be easy, is it? Whatever this is we’ve gotten ourselves into,” Dean said, crawling back into bed, curling up next to Cas.</p><p>“No, it’s hard to say this early how much damage has been done to his soul, but we should probably proceed under the assumption it is significant.”</p><p>“Well, if there’s one thing you’ve taught me, it’s that people can be saved,” Dean said. “We can dig ourselves out of whatever black hole we’ve dug ourselves into or others have dug us into. I can’t believe we got ourselves a kid. A kid.”</p><p>Dean worried for a bit, but it felt good too, knowing they could keep this kid from further harm. He warmed at the memory of how protective and gentle Cas was with the kid already. </p><p>“Have you thought about what you’re going to tell him about you?”</p><p>“I don’t know. It’s very complicated,” Cas said. “I wish to be truthful with him from the start but there are safety concerns. I don’t know how Jack will react to the idea of me being assigned Omega at birth but being a Beta. I some issues of my own I have to consider first.”</p><p>“Well, you pick the page. Just let me know which one so we can be on the same one.”</p><p>***</p><p>The plan was for Cas and Jack to drop him off at work, then Cas to take Jack shopping for some necessities of his own. The kid was dressed in a different set of Castiel’s stuff, though the kid had seemed quite attached to the shirt jacket- this crazy, brown Western style thing with embroidered patterns on the shoulders. Cas and Jack walked into the garage behind Dean.</p><p>“Well, you look like hell,” Bobby said. That was Bobby for you. Call it like he saw it. Then Bobby squinted his eyes a little and asked, “You didn’t fall of the wagon last night, did you?”</p><p>“What? No!” Dean protested, but he was well aware that he did not look or feel his best at this moment. He’d gotten almost no sleep, what with the events of last night and worrying about the events of last night. “Got about zero hours of sleep. Sam really pulled a doozy on me yesterday.”</p><p>“Well, that must be saying something, knowing what I know about the Winchesters.”</p><p>“So, John and he got me an Omega. Bought him from one of the Academies. Decided it didn’t look good on them for the oldest Alpha son to live alone with a Beta roommate.”</p><p>“He what now?”</p><p>“Bought me an Omega. That’s kind of why I brought Cas along. We’re looking into Formation. Gonna adopt the kid. So, I need to get him on my household insurance.”</p><p>“About time you settled down and made an honest man of that Beta of yours,” Bobby said, then turned back to the car he’d been working on. “I’ll get the insurance papers ready later. No extra charge. Household rate is the same if you have one dependent or ten.”</p><p>He should have known it would be just that easy with Bobby. After all, Bobby was the one who’d told him and taught him by his actions that family didn’t end with blood and it didn’t start there either. Dean grabbed Cas for a quick kiss and then got to work. Saturday was a half day for them and he had a lot of work to get through in a short time. </p><p>***</p><p>When Dean got home from work, Cas was busy at work in the living room, poring over one of his big Enochian tomes with the white gloves. He had a set up where he could take a high detail photograph of a single page and was working on slowly digitizing the most important of them, so that they could be shared with other scholars. One of the books Cas had gotten his hands on was apparently the only copy extant that was in private hands. He could probably have sold it for enough to bankroll them for the year. Dean wondered where got it but also sort of didn’t want to know. Enochian scholars were generally not made of money. </p><p>“I’m gonna shower,” Dean said as Cas walked over for a kiss, holding his white gloves well away from Dean and his dirty, greasy self. </p><p>“That’s a very good idea,” Cas said. “Maybe I’ll join you.”</p><p>Cas went back to his set up and started to break it down, putting stuff away for the night, putting the books safely in their curse boxes. There was a grimoire or two that Dean would not want just hanging out in the open in his house, spreading their cursed energies, maybe pulling in a mad witch or two. </p><p>“Where’s the kid?” Dean asked. He wanted to help Cas with the breakdown but you didn’t touch a scholar’s stuff without permission and unless every part of your body was pristine. </p><p>“He got bored watching me work, so I settled him in his room with the TV. It seemed safe enough.”</p><p>While Cas tidied up, Dean stripped himself down to his sweaty undershorts, dumping his dirty clothes off in their small laundry closet. Then, without thinking, he pulled the shorts off too and walked into the hallway wearing nothing. It had always made sense to him to strip down that way. Why bring a dirty pair of shorts away from the laundry, only to have to haul them back later. Their hallway was normally private enough and Cas certainly didn’t seem to mind seeing Dean walk around naked. It was just habit. He didn’t even think about it. </p><p>But suddenly Jack was in the hallway, coming out from his new room wearing similarly nothing at all, smelling of sweet, uncomplicated virgin Omega. The kid was everything an Omega was supposed to be- soft, even curvy, hairless. He was petite and delicate, his cock tiny, just big enough to hide the parts that must be between his legs. His skin was pale, his nipples a rosy pink. His blue eyes shone with happiness as he took in Dean and Jack dropped to his knees in front of Dean in that graceful, practiced way, like he had last night. This kid was everything an Omega was supposed to be and everything that Dean had thought he was supposed to want in his bed, but hadn’t actually wanted. He hadn’t realized that until he’d been with Cas for a while but it was being hammered into him now. </p><p>“Alpha!”</p><p>“Whoa! Get some clothes on!” Dean ordered, heading for the bathroom door and grabbing a towel to wrap around his own middle. </p><p>“But haven’t you come to take me to bed finally?”</p><p>“What? No! I’m not taking you to bed with me,” Dean tried not to shout, but really, a man should be able to walk to the shower in his own house without getting confronted by naked Omegas. Cas was coming up close behind them, thankfully. </p><p>“Perhaps Alpha wishes me to service him elsewhere then? Should I present myself here in the corridor, Alpha?” </p><p>“There will be no servicing. No taking you to bed. For God’s sake, do not present. I don’t need an Omega. I don’t want an Omega. I have Cas.”</p><p>Dean bolted into the bathroom and locked the door behind him. It was cowardly, he knew. The kid just made him so uncomfortable when he was like this. The kid was an ideal Omega in so many ways. Alphas were supposed to want just what the kid was. Under the fresh, virginal scent of him, there was such a sweet promise of fertility and bliss. Dean was starting to realize more and more as he was coming face to face with an ideal Omega that Cas, as he was, was what Dean actually wanted. That Castiel’s Beta presentation, his hairy body, his solidity, his wiry, muscled frame, even the Beta scent to some extent, was exactly what Dean wanted. That Cas as he was was how Dean loved him. Dean had always sort of thought that the Beta presentation was a surface Dean would have to deal with if he wanted the Omega inside, but that wasn’t true. He loved Cas the way he was, which meant he loved a Beta.</p><p>Later, when he was showered and clean, Dean wrapped himself up in their biggest towel and peeked out the bathroom door, hoping the coast was clear, so he could get himself to the bedroom and get dressed without any further naked incidents. Cas had him covered though. Dean’s big robe, the one that went down below his knees, was hanging on the bathroom door handle. He pulled it on, belted it so he was fully covered. Only then did Dean head for the bedroom. He got dressed in his usual three layers and fresh jeans then went to face the other members of his household.</p><p>Jack and Cas were in the kitchen. Cas was doing a little washing up, probably lunch dishes. Jack was sitting at the kitchen table, looking unhappy and like he might of cried or something, which Dean hated. No, he didn’t want the kid in his bed, but he didn’t want to make him cry either. </p><p>“I apologize, Al...” the kid started. Then changed course, “Dean. Castiel said I have made you uncomfortable, offering to service you in the corridor like that. He says I make you uncomfortable when I call you Alpha.”</p><p>“Yeah, he’s not wrong with that,” Dean said. “You can’t do that stuff. I know what my brother told you and everything, but I don’t want an Omega. You aren’t going to be my mate. I don’t want to see you naked.”</p><p>“I was thinking maybe we should institute a no nudity in the public areas of the apartment rule,” Cas said from the sink. </p><p>“Yeah, good idea,” Dean said. “I wasn’t even thinking, walking around like that. I guess some things have to change now that there’s a kid in the house.”</p><p>They hadn’t needed a no naked rule before, but it was a really good idea. He hadn’t even been thinking about the kid when he’d stripped down. This little incident with Jack was really almost more his fault than anything. The kid had been told his whole life that an Alpha would want to get naked with him and then do things. So, he saw a naked Alpha, he assumed it meant things were about to happen. The kid had been told, all his life, in ways that were direct and not so direct that his whole life, his whole existence, were meant to be an object to be taken and owned by some dude who deserved it only because he came equipped with a particularly fancy penis. It was going to take a lot of work to get to the point where Jack realized his life belonged to him. </p><p>“Speaking of which, should we call Charlie and cancel?” Cas asked. </p><p>“We said we were down to watch Game of Thrones last night, didn’t we?” Dean asked, remembering clearly now. </p><p>“It’s not exactly suitable for all audiences.”</p><p>Yeah, it was all kinds of problematic, but it had dragons, really cool dragons, so he and Cas just kind of overlooked the awful stuff. Like the war and murder and rapes. And yeah, definitely not going to watch that with an innocent like Jack around. There were sex and treachery and beheadings. This was stuff you didn’t want kids to watch.</p><p>“I’ll text her. Maybe she’ll want to come over to watch something else.”</p><p>He got out his phone and tapped away. “Hey, so funny thing. We’re gonna have to change our GoT date tonight. Got a kid in the house now.”</p><p>Her reply was lightening fast. “You what? Whose kid?”</p><p>“Ours now, I guess. Sammy bought an Omega for me, so we’re adopting him.”</p><p>Within seconds, the phone rang. Charlie hardly ever used a phone as a phone. Except now apparently.</p><p>“Your brother did what?” She started talking with hardly a pause. “Are you kidding me? Like, bought you a real live person and you’re keeping him. What are talking about Dean? That’s disgusting. You shouldn’t just be able to buy a person.”</p><p>“Hey now, I didn’t buy the kid. He was given to me. What am I supposed to do? Take him to an Omega shelter? Me and Cas decided we’re forming a proper household and adopting him as a child dependent.”</p><p>She just about squealed. He could almost see her bouncing around with glee. “Way to bury the lede there, Winchester. You and Cas are getting married? I knew it! I knew it! I knew it!”</p><p>“Knew what?”</p><p>“That you’re totally gay for Cas,” she said. “I mean, I knew you were for as long as I’ve known you both. I kind of figured Cas didn’t reciprocate and it wasn’t any of my business, so I stayed out of it. But you’re getting married and adopting. Yay! OMG, I am so going to throw the best pre-formation party for you. Tell me I can throw you two crazy kids the pre-formation shower.”</p><p>“Uh, let’s not get ahead of ourselves here. We’re just doing the paper work, we’re not having a Formation.”</p><p>The kind of formation celebration in a church that went with holy vows and everything, like Charlie was obviously picturing, was beyond the scope of anything Dean and Cas could afford or even wanted to spend money on. They’d do the paperwork, because that gave them legal protections, but two hundred people at a reception wasn’t happening. Did they even know two hundred people? If you didn’t count John Winchester’s business associates. The lawyers penning and filing the Formation would take up most of their meager savings.</p><p>“You have to have at least a pot-luck. You can’t have a Formation without some kind of party.”</p><p>“We’ll talk about it later,” he promised. “For tonight, as I was saying, there’s this kid and we’re adopting him and so we can’t watch Game of Thrones tonight.”</p><p>“How old is he?”</p><p>“I don’t really know. Sixteen, maybe fifteen. I didn’t really look at the stuff my brother gave me.”</p><p>“You were given an Omega and you didn’t even read his papers.”</p><p>“He’s a person, Charlie, not a pedigreed puppy. I didn’t read his papers. So, Game of Throne alternatives? You got any ideas. Something good for the young and innocent.”</p><p>“Harry Potter!”</p><p>“No Harry Potter. You made me watch all eight Harry Potter movies. I don’t even like Harry Potter.”</p><p>“That’s insane. You love Harry Potter. You’ve seen all eight movies!”</p><p>“No Harry Potter.”</p><p>“I know! My Neighbor Totoro! Everyone loves Totoro.”</p><p>“Yeah, okay. See you at eight then.”</p><p>He hung up. Cas and Jack were both staring at him. “So I guess it’s a Miyazaki night,” he said to Cas. “And I guess Charlie wants to throw us a pre-formation shower.”</p><p>“Maybe we should cancel completely,” Cas said. </p><p>“It’s just Charlie and Stevie. They’re our best friends. Almost family. We should get the kid used to them.”</p><p>At eight, more or less, Charlie and Stevie were at their door with the Blue Ray for Totoro, bags of snacks and a wrapped present. Charlie, as usual, was close to frenetic, looking all around their little place. </p><p>“Where’s my new god child. You’re making me godmother, right? I can’t think of anyone else who’s remotely qualified. Okay, Stevie is too, but she’ll give me this one, right Babe?” Charlie bubbled as she walked into the living room.</p><p>“You can have it,” Stevie said, always more mellow of the pair. She gave Dean a brief hug. “I hear you and Cas are getting hitched. Congratulations.”</p><p>That was when Cas and Jack walked in. “You must be Jack. I’m your Aunt Charlie, Sweetie,” she said, pushing the wrapped gift at Jack. “I’m Dean and Cas’s BFF. I got you a gift.”</p><p>“You didn’t have to do that,” Dean said. Jack was holding the gift awkwardly. It looked heavy and was wrapped in bright paper with a baby Yoda holding balloons theme.</p><p>“It’s just my usual new baby gift. Something each and every kid alive needs,” she said. “I keep them on hand, just in case. Go on, open it, Jack.”</p><p>Jack looked to Dean first, then Cas, who said, “Well, gifts welcoming a new member of the family are traditional. I’m sure Charlie would be very happy to see you open it, Jack.”</p><p>He helped Jack set the heavy box on a nearby table. Dean was pretty sure he knew what it was already. Charlie could be kind of predictable about certain things. Jack started to pop open the tape along the seams, a careful, cautious way of opening. Dean wondered if Jack had ever received any gifts before. Did they get gifts at the Omega academy?</p><p>“Just rip it open,” Charlie encouraged. “That’s like half the fun.”</p><p>Cas himself was more of an open on the seams kind of recipient, but he nodded to Jack, who grabbed an edge of paper and tore it a little. Then, with the delight stealing over him, like it had last night with the ice cream, he grabbed at the paper, ripping it open in big chunks, getting it bare of wrapping paper in seconds. As Dean expected, it was the Harry Potter books hard cover box set, which must have set Charlie back a considerable amount. But she was right. That was her standard baby shower gift. Jack looked puzzled, but he plastered on a smile and said, “Thank you for my gift, Aunt Charlie.”</p><p>“I’m not sure Jack was ever taught to read, Charlie,” Dean said. Omegas often weren’t, especially not in the Academies. They were schooled in how to walk and act gracefully, how to be perfectly submissive. Cas had said there were lessons in certain domestic chores too. And then the obvious lessons in how to entertain Alphas. </p><p>“I’m looking into on-line education for Jack,” Cas said. “I’m sure he’ll make rapid progress and we will be reading these together before too long. Maybe we might want to watch the first Harry Potter movie tonight, instead of the anime you brought. Jack might want to enjoy the story before he can read it.”</p><p>Dean groaned, because not Harry Potter again, but he headed to the cabinet for the disc. Yeah, maybe he hated Harry Potter a little, but he’d sit through it again for his friends and family. And the kid. It was a small enough thing to do for the kid. </p><p>“Oh, my God, Jack, you are going to love this,” Charlie said, spreading out the bags of chips and candy on the coffee table and opening them up. “Dean loves these movies. He’s seen them all like a million times.”</p><p>***</p><p>Most people had a big party when they set up a formal household, but you started the paper work long before you had the party. People, specifically, the Alpha of your last formal household, had to be given legal notice. If you’d been in a formal household arrangement before and there were obligations you owed that household, the court would enforce those before letting you go one and start a new one. Dean didn’t think there would be any problems. The only household he’d formally ever been part of was as a dependent in his father’s. By law, a dependent child could owe no obligations to a parent. If anything, John owed a hell of a lot to Dean, starting with his Hunter’s pay from age fourteen to twenty-six. So, the notice was just a legal obligation, but it had to be followed. </p><p>Dean was almost not surprised when John showed up at Bobby’s shop one afternoon, not long before Dean was about to take off for the day. John, out of place in his bespoke suit and Italian leather loafers, stuck out like a sore thumb among the tool boxes and beater cars that Dean and Bobby helped their owners nurse along. Dean, for his part, was still wearing his greasy work coverall, though he’d unbuttoned the top and let that hang down, showing his layers of flannel and knit tops. John looked at what Dean was wearing with an obvious sneer.</p><p>John was carrying a sheaf of papers and the envelope they came in. He’d obviously been served the notice of household formation. Dean had wanted to have it done as soon as he could because Sam had let him know that the old man would be home for the Thanksgiving holiday.Otherwise, it might have been a lot of money to track him down and serve him internationally. Dean wondered idly where John might have flown in from.</p><p>“What is this?” John asked. “What do you think you’re doing?”</p><p>“I thought you could read,” Dean said, as cold as he could. Really, he was raging inside. </p><p>“Dissolution of familial bonds and obligations? Forming your own household instead of a subordinate household under your father? A restraining order? These are not the actions taken in a loving family.”</p><p>Since he was paying for a lawyer and for court fees anyway, he thought he might get a few other loose ends taken care of in addition to forming his household. Including those restraining orders he’d always wanted against John, Sam and HunterCorps, so his apartment would never be invaded by them again.</p><p>“You’re right, they’re not. Speaking of restraining orders, you’re about three hundred yards too close.”</p><p>“I know we’ve had our disagreements, but don’t see why you have to be so combative. We’re family. I’ve told you again and again, there would be no objection to you forming a subsidiary household under my own. You belong under our wing.”</p><p>“No, we’re not family. A wise man once told me that family don’t end in blood and it doesn’t start there either. Family are the ones that have your back. Family care for you, not for what you can do for them. When it seemed like I was nothing but a busted up toy soldier, you threw me out with the trash.”</p><p>“I’m sorry you see it that way,” John said. “We had to let you go from the company. You were a liability and a danger to your team.”</p><p>A danger to his team. Probably he had been, but it was still less of a danger then sending them into danger time and again with faulty intel and equipment, because cutting costs was what kept the bottom line looking good for the shareholders. Or letting hunters go when the PTSD got to affect their functioning, but denying any kind of disability or workers comp. </p><p>“It was never personal, son.”</p><p>“Well, it sure felt that way at the time. I was stranded, homeless, not able to work, in Fargo in the winter, for three months until Cas took me in.”</p><p>“You made those choices.”</p><p>“You wouldn’t take my calls, you cut off my cards, my accounts.”</p><p>“They were company cards and accounts.”</p><p>Well, Dean hadn’t bothered with getting any bank accounts of his own because John had always told him that everything would be taken care, just use the company money and focus on hunting. Dean noticed that he didn’t acknowledge the other thing at all. John would never admit that he’d abandoned Dean in the time of Dean’s greatest need. </p><p>“We’ve been over this before and it hasn’t made a damn bit of difference, so I’m done.”</p><p>“No, you don’t get to be done. You are my son. You will listen to what I have to say and you will stop this madness,” John shook the sheath of legal papers at him. “You will come home to our family on Thanksgiving and you will call me Sir, with the respect that I am due.”</p><p>“Well, I don’t work for you anymore. You fired me. So I don’t owe you Sir for that. As for the rest, that kind of respect is earned. So take your little extinction burst out of here and get used to the idea that you don’t own me anymore.”</p><p>“My God, Dean, you aren’t even filing as head of your household. You’re forming with another man. A Beta. And he’s formal head. Do you know how that looks?”</p><p>“It looks exactly like it should,” Dean said. Cas had been shocked when Dean proposed they file that way. Dean couldn’t see that it should be done any other way. Cas was stronger than him, smarter than him and had been the head of their household in spirit for as long as they’d lived together. </p><p>“What are you doing, Dean? Why are you doing this? The Omega Sam and I gave you is being adopted? We bought him for you to mate with, so you wouldn’t be alone and so that you could give me grandchildren. We didn’t buy an Omega for you to coddle and treat like a son. You’re having a Beta as head of household over you? That’s not going to happen. People are going think he’s fucking you.”</p><p>“He is fucking me,” Dean said, plainly and flatly as he could, for maximum shock value. Then, when John just stood there, mouth working but not saying anything, Dean added, “I’m taking it up the ass from Castiel. I’m catcher, he’s pitcher.”</p><p>John Winchester spluttered and went red in the face. The worst thing in the world he could think was that an Alpha would bend over and take it. Another Alpha would have been bad enough, but a Beta? As far as John was concerned, it wouldn’t have been worse if Dean had his balls cut off. John was raising his hand, as if he was going to slap Dean or maybe punch him. Dean wasn’t afraid of John, not any more. He didn’t need the approval he was never going to get and he didn’t have to fear his anger. Dean was his own man, had been for years and he was making his own family now, in the shape he wanted it in, with the man he loved and the kid that had found them by accident. John Winchester could go fuck himself.</p><p>Then Bobby came out. He carried an old break action shot gun, full length, like he might confront any hostile intruder with. He didn’t exactly point it at John but he didn’t break it either. He looked like he’d love to unload a round of 00 buckshot into John, but Dean knew that Bobby kept that particular shottie loaded up with rock salt for ghosts and the like. It was almost certainly non-lethal to humans at that range. Not that John Winchester would know that. Bobby was an old school hunter, one of the last of the old school, independent hunters. He hated people like John Winchester on principle, for profiteering off hunting. The rest of it- how he’d treated Dean, his shitty attitude and personality- that was just the gilding on the turd as far as Bobby was concerned.</p><p>“This guy bothering you, Dean?” Bobby asked.</p><p>“No, Winchester’s going and he knows that the next time he steps writhing 300 yards of here, we’re calling the cops.”</p><p>John left but Dean somehow thought it might not be the last he heard from the man. </p><p>***</p><p> </p><p>It wasn’t easy with Jack either. The kid took it personally that Dean didn’t want to ‘do Alpha stuff’ with him. As far as Dean could tell, the kid had been kept fairly innocent of what that Alpha stuff actually was, that the kid had only some vague ideas about what an Alpha might have required from him, if that Alpha wasn’t Dean. The kid seemed to think sex was more or less some form of advanced hugging that took place in private. </p><p>The morning after Dean’s confrontation with John, Cas had gone out early for a run while Dean was still drowsing in bed, half asleep, and not feeling his greatest. He’d caught a cold or something, so his stuffed up nose was making him scent blind. A warm, naked body crawled into bed with him and he somehow thought it was Cas. If he hadn’t been scent blind, the odor would have given the kid away immediately. As it was, he sleepily thought Cas had returned early from his run and Dean had fallen into a snuggle before he even opened his eyes. He was feeling poorly enough that it had been comforting to have a warm body in his arms, nestling up against him. He was starting to get a bit of a stiffy, thinking about the things Cas might do to him. Only when lips were tentatively pressed against his did Dean realize it was not Cas in the bed with him, but the kid. </p><p>“Whoa! What the hell?” Dean pushed himself back from Jack as if the kid was on fire. He kept scooting back until he’d fallen off the far end of the bed onto the floor. Dean had fallen asleep naked after a nice night with Cas, but luckily when he’d woken in the middle of the night, he’d thought to pull on sweatpants and a t-shirt at least. He still felt somehow naked though, confronted with an Omega in his bed. He gathered himself upright, coming fully awake. </p><p>“We talked about this, Jack,” Dean said, trying to keep his calm. It was actually about the fourth time in less than a week that Jack had tried to get with Dean, one way or another. “You can’t come into our bedroom. Now, get out and get some clothes on for God’s sake.”</p><p>“But how am I supposed to be a good Omega for you if you won’t let me in your bedroom?” Jack asked, all but tearful. He was a good kid and there seemed to be nothing he wanted more than to be the best Omega he could be. </p><p>“You aren’t supposed to be in here,” Dean said. “You’re not here to be my Omega. I am never going to do naked things in the bedroom with you. We gotta make that completely, utterly clear.”</p><p>He didn’t add that the thought of doing naked things with the kid made him sick to the pit of his stomach, just because the kid was so innocent, so naive and because he was someone who wasn’t Cas. He thought it had been clear that it was him and Cas that did naked things in this household. He’d thought Cas was bringing the kid up to speed on the birds and the bees and how things were going to be in their house. Dean thought this all had been explained before.</p><p>Because Jack didn’t seem to be moving, Dean added, “Go on, get some pants on.”</p><p>“But you want to do naked things with me. I felt your manhood grow.”</p><p>Dean just about lost it. His manhood? It seemed like the kid had gotten what sex ed he had from some particularly insipid and insidious romance novel. Yeah, he’d gotten a bit of a woody, but that had wilted completely once he’d realized who was in his arms. </p><p>“I thought you were Cas at first,” Dean said. He pulled a tissue out of the nearby box and blew into it a little, as if to demonstrate. “I can’t smell a thing this morning and I was half asleep. I didn’t know it was you. I thought you were Cas. Pants. Now. And out of my room.”</p><p>Dean herded Jack out of the room and locked the handle lock, just to be on the safe side, then he crawled back into bed to see if he could get just a little more sleep. It wasn’t going to be had though, so he stared at the ceiling, wondering if he’d been too mean to Jack. The kid obviously was just trying to do the thing he’d been taught to do by the people he should have been able to trust. Well, at Jack’s age, Dean had been doing the things he’d been taught to do by the person he should have been able to trust and look where that had gotten him. No where good. </p><p>Dean thought about calling in to work. Maybe on a different day, he might have had a little more ability to cope with walking through the world scent blind, but after confronting John, after finding a too eager, naive Omega trying to get with him in Castiel’s place, he just didn’t have it in him. It would probably put Bobby into a tight spot though. </p><p>A little while later, there was a firm rap at the locked door. It couldn’t be anyone other than Cas. Dean sighed, pulled himself out of bed and went to face Cas.</p><p>“Do you mind telling me why Jack is naked in the living room, crying?” Cas demanded.</p><p>“Because he hasn’t put any damn pants on like I told him to,” Dean snarled. “If he did what I told him to, he wouldn’t be naked at least. He tried to crawl into bed with me again and I kicked him out of it. I thought we had that shit figured out with him.”</p><p>Cas sighed heavily, “I will go speak with him. Are you well? You don’t look well.”</p><p>“I’m not,” Dean admitted, then sniffled. “Can’t breath through my nose. Can’t smell a damn thing. My eyes were closed and I was half asleep and I thought it was you until he was up close and personal.”</p><p>“Oh, Dean,” Cas said, touching him on the forehead. “You’re feverish. You’d probably better go back to bed.”</p><p>“I’m fine. It’s just a little cold.”</p><p>“You’ll run your self ragged and wind up with pneumonia. Again.”</p><p>Dean’s lungs had been weak since that winter he spent almost dying on the streets of Fargo. A little cold was usually just a little cold, except for those times it wasn’t. He’d only put himself into the hospital once since that winter. But hey, they called it walking pneumonia for a reason, right? He was fine after a little antibiotics those other times. But he also knew that the stress from confronting his father was enough to throw off his whole immune system.</p><p>“I’m getting ready for work. Talk to that boy and make him understand if tries to get in our bed again I’ll.”</p><p>Dean didn’t know what he’d do. What could he do? It wasn’t like he was going to whip the boy’s ass like had been done to him when he was young. He wanted to, could feel the anger building, but he knew he couldn’t do that. What discipline did Dean even know that wasn’t him just making the same mistakes that had been done unto him? All he knew was the heavy hand of John Winchester and he’d vowed never to go down that route.</p><p>“I’ll ground him. Can we do that? Can we ground the kid?”</p><p>“I suspect it would not be very effective,” Cas said. “I’ll speak to him again. We have to be patient. It’s hard to unlearn everything you’ve ever been taught and fight against years of conditioning.”</p><p>“Yeah, I know,” Dean said. “Believe me, I know.”</p><p>Dean went to get dressed, pulling on an extra layer of tops, because it was already colder than yesterday and because he was feeling chilled. Cas went off to the living room to talk with Jack. He could hear them talking softly and they were still at it when Dean when Dean ventured cautiously into the living room, blowing his nose on a big, soft bandana, wishing like hell that he wasn’t scent blind at the moment, because he could have been able to tell a lot more about how the conversation was going if he’d been able to catch those notes of stress, of soothing. At least Jack was more or less fully dressed now. </p><p>“But I don’t understand. An Alpha and a Beta man aren’t meant to be together. An Omega is meant for an Alpha,” Jack said. “Why else would I be here if not to give myself to Alpha Dean? I can give him children. You can’t give him children.”</p><p>“Many would argue that the world has more than enough children in it already,” Cas said. “Regardless, it was never our plan to raise children together until you came along.”</p><p>“I’m not a child.”</p><p>“You’re definitely still a kid,” Dean said. He remembered just how old and adult he’d felt when he was Jack’s age, but mostly, standing where he was now, he could see back to how much of a kid he’d really still been. Jack was so young it was painful. Dean had been groomed into being a killer by that age. Jack had been groomed into thinking he was destined to be the exclusive possession of an Alpha.</p><p>“I’m not a child and you don’t belong with him. I do. What can a Beta man do for an Alpha?”</p><p>“Besides be my everything?” Dean asked. “I gotta make this as clear as I can, kiddo. I love Cas, Cas loves me. We’re together. We’re mates.”</p><p>“Dean and I are the core of this family we are forming,” Cas added. “The mated pair. You are the child that we have decided we will care for and raise. That’s what you’re here for, Jack. You’re becoming our son. Maybe that isn’t why you were taken out of your school and brought here to us, but that is what is happening now.”</p><p>Cas gave Dean a meaningful look. It was a request for confirmation, for back up. “Cas is right. You’re our kid now, like it or not. We’re adopting you.”</p><p>“I can’t be. Omegas don’t have families. Omegas make families for Alphas.”</p><p>“You are making a family for Dean, one that you are part of,” Cas promised. “I don’t think I’m lying when I say that I know Dean better than anyone else. He is the most loving, caring man there is and what Dean needs more than anything else is someone to care for, someone to love. Someone to keep safe.”</p><p>“Look, I’m not perfect, kid. I’m kind of barely holding it together as a person sometimes, but I think him and you and me could make it as a family. What do you say? Do you want to be our kid? Have Cas and me as your fathers?”</p><p>“I don’t know,” Jack said. “I don’t know how to have a father. That isn’t supposed to be the life of an Omega.”</p><p>“Your life doesn’t have to be what it’s supposed to be,” Cas promised. “It can be what you make of it. What you decide you want.”</p><p>Later, they might tell him that he didn’t even need to be Omega if that was what he wanted, but that was a whole other ball of wax. Advanced free will. </p><p>“I will try to have fathers then,” Jack decided, voice quavering a little, as if he were heading to execution, not a home that two men were going to do their damndest to make into a happy one. “I will try not to be your Omega but your kid.”</p><p>“You will be safe here,” Cas said. “Dean and I will see to that.”</p><p>After a moment of meaningful, heartfelt silence, it started to get awkward. So Dean had to say something. “You know what? I’m gonna call Bobby, let him know I’m not coming in today. Cas, you got anything you can’t cancel?”</p><p>“I teach my undergrad class at ten, but after that, it was just a research day for me,” Cas said. “I can be back home by eleven thirty.”</p><p>“You do that, bring snacks home. Soon as you get home, we’re having our first family day. Movies. Pizza. The works.”</p><p>***</p><p>Six hours later, they were all spread around the living room. Dean and Cas shared the sofa, on opposite ends, but legs entangled with each other, the same blanket draped over them both. Jack had claimed Dean’s recliner, though he perched on the edge of the seat at the moment, not properly relaxed and resting on it. He was watching the movie intently, completely engrossed.</p><p>The wreckage of lunch, delivery, cluttered the coffee table still. It was not pizza, which Cas had vetoed, as hard on Omega stomachs that were still recovering from years of vegan food, but burgers which were nearly as good, as far as Dean was concerned, even though he could hardly taste anything, his nose still stuffed up. Cas loved a burger too. Jack had had a vegan pineapple pizza burger, which was an abomination as far as Dean was concerned, but Jack had loved it, so Dean shut his trap about it mostly. </p><p>On the TV, a Disney movie played. Lilo and Stitch, which Cas had approved as suitable for family time. The little monster on the screen was saying, “This is my family. I found it, all on my own. Is little, and broken, but still good. Yeah, still good.”</p><p>Dean looked at Cas to his left and on the recliner to his right, Jack, his new kid, a son of his and Castiel’s heart. He and Cas both had major cracks in their chassis and Jack was probably damaged in ways that they hadn’t even begun to understand yet, but they were a family. Broken, little but still good.</p>
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